


Frank's Advice

by iloveitblue



Series: Not a prompt [8]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: M/M, Mention of Phil's death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-10
Updated: 2014-10-10
Packaged: 2018-02-20 15:52:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2434436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iloveitblue/pseuds/iloveitblue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The one where Clint decides to follow Frank's advice.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Frank's Advice

"Do what I did." Frank said to him.

Dean snorted. “Huh. What? go native? Stock up on C-rations? Yeah.” Dean rolled his eyes at the man.

"No cupcake." Frank took a deep breath and continued. "What I did when I was 26 and came home to see my wife and 2 kids  _gutted_  on the floor.” Dean raised his head. He didn’t know that. He didn’t even know that Frank had a wife much less two kids. “Decide to be fine ‘til the end of the week. Make yourself smile because you’re alive and that’s your job. Then do it again the next week.”

Dean gave a tiny nod then asked, “So fake it?”

"I call it being professional. Do it right. With a smile." Frank told him, his voice insistent. “Or don’t do it.”

Dean couldn’t say anything more, So he just let his eye wander.

—-

Clint turned the TV off when the credits started to roll. Clint likes watching Supernatural. It’s action-y with guns and everything but it isn’t the kind of action-y that he can spot any obvious mistakes since he’s never dealt with vampires and ghosts and demons before. 

But sometimes, in episodes like these, the show just gets so real you forget that these are just characters. 

Clint sighed, tossed the remote to the other side of the couch before he got up and went back to his empty room. Phil’s body leaning over the desk, working until just before the sun broke the sky, missing. 

It’s been a month since Phil had died and it’s not getting any better. They said he’d feel better. They said the pain would subside. They said he’d forgive himself.

All in time, they said.

Bull.

Fucking.

Shit.

—-

Clint stared at himself in the mirror. He hated what he saw. He slapped his face twice and tried smiling. Just like Dean had learned to the night before.

Clint walked to the elevator, his mind clear of anything - numb from everything that had happened. From the pain, the loss, the anger, and everything in between. His mind had probably thought, ‘Fuck it’ and shut off. 

It was good, in a way, at least now he can focus on being professional.

He stepped out of the elevator and into Stark tower’s common floor. The Avengers were in the kitchen, having their breakfast. Clint took a deep breath in and let it all out in a single rush. 

Smile.

Decide to be fine.

Smile.

Do it or don’t.

_Smile._

_Be a professional._

**Author's Note:**

> [Here on tumblr](http://promptmephlint.tumblr.com/post/99658833061/im-sad-because-i-didnt-get-to-finish-9-seasons)


End file.
